Monday, July 1, 2013, 12:14 PM

liveleak.com

François Murad, 49, was beheaded by jihadists after being accused of collaborating with President Bashar Assad’s regime.

A Catholic priest has been publicly beheaded by Syrian terrorists after accusations of collaborating with President Bashar Assad’s regime

Franciscan Father Francois Murad was executed among two others in the countryside of Edlib in northern Syria last week before its filming was uploaded online.

The Vatican confirmed Murad’s death Monday, declaring his martyrdom by the hands of Syrian jihadists after he was pulled from the convent for the Custody of the Holy Land where he had taken refuge, June 23.

The circumstances surrounding the 49-year-old priest’s death are not entirely known.

liveleak.com

Spectators recorded the killings that included two others with their smartphones and cameras before uploading it online.

Local sources told the Vatican the convent was ambushed by militants linked to the jihadi group, Jabhat al-Nusra.

In the extremely graphic video, a man identified as Murad is seen sitting cross-legged in the grass with his hands bound as a mob of men around him shout in Arabic.

Several are seen shamelessly holding up cameras to record the horrific killings, stepping as close as they can to the aftermath of bloody bodies.

liveleak.com

The Vatican confirmed Murad’s death Mondaywhile declaring his martyrdom by the hands of Syrian jihadists who had attacked the convent he had taken refuge.

“Lately, father Murad sent me some messages that clearly showed how conscious he was of living in a dangerous situation, and offered his life for peace in Syria and around the world,” Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo, titular of the Syrian Catholic Archeparchy in Hassaké-Nisibis reported to Fides News Agency.

“The whole story of Christians in the Middle East is marked and made fruitful by the blood of the martyrs of many persecutions,” he said.

According to the Vatican’s press release, Murad traveled to the area after becoming an ordained priest to help construct a coenobitic monastery dedicated to St. Simon Stylites in the village of Gassanieh.

liveleak.com

Murad traveled to the area to help construct a coenobitic monastery dedicated to St. Simon Stylites in the northern Syrian village of Gassanieh, according to the Vatican. (mediachecker->they beheaded them because they didn’t want him to build another monastry and a warning to others if they atttempted to rebuild it.)

“After the start of the Civil War, the monastery of St. Simon had been bombed and Fr. Murad had moved to the convent of the Custody for safety reasons and to give support to the remaining few, along with another religious and nuns of the Rosary.”

“Let us pray,” wrote the Custody of the Holy Land Pierbattista Pizzaballa OFM, “so that this absurd and shameful war ends soon and that the people of Syria can go back to living a normal life.

“Unfortunately Syria has now become a battleground not only between Syrian forces, but also between Arab countries and the international community.”

Jabhat al-Nusra has been identified as an Islamist terrorist organization by the U.S. government since 2011 while working in collaboration with al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Syrian insurgents decapitated two Syrian Christians in public for allegedly working with government forces, as reported by the Washington Times on June 27, 2013.

Unknown if they were Eastern Rite Catholics or Syrian Orthodox, two men, a priest and a layman, were filmed having their heads slowly cut off with a small knife before a cheering crowd.

According to reports cited by the Washington Times, an undated video has been circulating the internet showing two men with their hands bound as they were executed.

Reportedly, the executioner lifted the heads to show the cheering crowd, then placed the heads back on the bodies.

According to foreign media, the two killed were the priest and layman.

The video clearly shows children in the crowd, and cries of “Allahu Akbar” as the two bound men were brutally put to death.

Warning, the video (seen here) is graphic and may not be suitable for all viewers.

This attack comes on the heels of the rebel forces recent execution of a Catholic priest, as well as the insurgent attack on a Christian village near the city of Homs in the western part of the country.

As cited, the entire village was burned to the ground.

The executions and attack on the village come at the same time the CIA is staging American weaponry in Jordan, per promised to the rebels by Barack Obama.

Citing the Wall Street Journal, the Times states the CIA is waiting on shipping the arms to the rebels until further weapons shipments from the rebel’s European and Arab allies arrive.

The Journal also reported the insurgents are stockpiling their new weaponry for a planned and coordinated attack on the government forces set for August.

As previously covered by Examiner.com, the majority of the rebel forces have embraced Islamic Jihadism, and the largest faction, the al-Nusra group, has allied itself with the al-Qaeda global terrorism network.

These sickos even brought their children to watch…the bearded barbarian is wearing a Kurdish cap and full beard while the butcher has his face covered. Bloody cowards!

The Vatican reported it in June which is when I meant to post it but unfortunately forgot… Please pray for all our Christian brethren over there as they’re first in line to be butchered by the barbarians at the gate.